Science Process Skills and Attitudes Toward Science
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Journal of Educational Sciences. Vol. 2, No. 2, 2018, 90-99 90 Science Process Skills and Attitudes toward Science of Lower Secondary Students of Merbau Island: A Preliminary Study on the Development of Maritime- Based Contextual Science Learning Media Zulirfan Muhammad Rahmad, Yennita, Nina Kurnia, Muhammad Sofyan Hadi Physics Education – PMIPA – FKIP Universitas Riau, Pekanbaru, 28293, Indonesia Email: [email protected] Abstract. Science learning outcomes such as science process skills and attitudes toward science are still important issues in science education. In this study the researchers tried to get a picture of the students' learning outcomes to get input on the learning process of science in the coastal area. As an initial study of the development of maritime-based contextual science learning media, the purpose of this research is to know the extent of science process skill level, attitude toward science, and academic achievement of students in coastal area. There were 114 students of the 8th grade of four lower secondary schools in Merbau Island participated as respondents in this study. Instruments used in data collection are science process skills tests and attitude toward science questionnaires for lower secondary school students. The results showed that 8th grade lower secondary school students in Merbau Island had high attitude toward science. On the contrary, the science process skills and academic achievement of their science are relatively low. Keyword: Academic achievements of science, Attitudes toward science, Coastal areas, Maritime-based learning media, Merbau Island, Science process skills 1. Introduction The growth of a nation is determined by the technological discoveries of the nation. Technology itself is definitely produced by the advancement of the science. Therefore, the issue of science process skills up to day remains an important issue in science education. A person who has good science process skills, will try to explore the universe as deeply and as widely as he wants. Furthermore, this skills can give a birth to a new technology. Ergul et al. (2011) suggests that the science process skill is a skill that reflects the behavior of scientists. Meanwhile, Bilgin (2006) defined the scientific process skills is an understanding of scientific investigation methods and procedures. Harlen (1999) stated that if science learning can produce Received 28th June 2018, Revised 15th July 2018, Accepted for publication 24th July 2018 Published by FKIP University of Riau Publisher, ISSN: 2581-1657 (Print), 2581-2203 (Online). Science process skills and attitudes … 91 students who have the science process skills, then we have prepared future scientists who have the literacy of science and the ability to use the scientific information in everyday individually, in society, and globally. Ergul et al. (2011) stated that the students who have the skills of the scientific process make it possible to be able to solve problems, think critically, make decisions, and conclusions, and satisfying of their hesitations. Trianto (2010) argued that the science process skill is the whole directed scientific skill (both cognitive and psychomotor that can be used to find a concept, principle or theory to develop a pre-existing concept, or to denial a discovery. Experts distinguish scientific process skills onto basic science process skills and integrated science process skills. According to Walter and Soyibo (2001), basic science process skills include: observing, measuring and using numbers, and classifying. These basic process skills are basic in scientific inquiry. Integrated science process skills include: controlling variables, preparing hypotheses, and conducting experiments. Meanwhile, Harlen (1991) argued that basic process skills consist of: observing, predicting, communicating, and integrated process skills consisting of: formulating hypotheses, carrying out experiments, interpreting data, and drawing conclusions. Another important issue in science education is attitude. Sobha and Ummu Kulsum (2015) defined attitude as an expression of pleasure or displeasure to a person, place, object, or event. The attitudes in science can be interpreted in two dimensions. The first dimension is attitudes toward science and the second dimension is scientific attitudes. Attitudes toward science are attitudes related on how to view the science itself so as to form an attention and motivation to be more successful in studying science and work in the field of science. Referring to the OECD (2013), attitudes toward science are attitudes that show an interest in science, support for scientific inquiry, and the motivation to act responsibly to the natural resources. Koballa and Glynn (2007) argued that attitudes toward science are an expression of positive or negative feelings about the science. Students who have a positive attitude toward science and good process skills will improve their cognitive abilities. It is necessary to apply a scientific approach in developing science process skills and attitudes toward science of students. Implementing scientific activities as hands-on as well as minds-on activity in science learning are very important for students. Gomez-Arizaga (2016) stated that students enjoy the hands-on activity because they have the opportunity to create, share and realize their ideas. In line with Gomez-Arigaza (2016), Guenette, Marshall, and Morley (2007) reported that students who gain an intensive hands-on experience through laboratory activities have a more complete learning experience than when they learn science using textbooks only. 92 Zulirfan et al., Indonesia is a maritime country where most of its territory is an archipelago surrounded by vast oceans. Riau Province is one of the provinces in Indonesia whose territory consists of the mainland of Sumatra Island, the coast of Sumatra, and the islands. Some districts in Riau have areas on the east coast of Sumatra Island: Rokan Hilir, Dumai, Bengkalis, Siak, Pelalawan, and Indragiri Hilir, while the entire territory of Kepulauan Meranti is an archipelago. The territory of Kepulauan Meranti district consists of: Merbau Island, Padang Island, Rangsang Island, Tebing Tinggi Island, and several other small islands. In the aspect of science education, the achievement of science education, especially at the junior level is still not satisfactory when compared with other districts in Riau. This is apparent from the data of National Examination (UN) results in 2016 and 2017 released by the Ministry of Education and Culture (Kemdikbud, 2017). Many factors affect the quality of education include: infrastructure, social environment, education management, quality of learning process, parent and community support, and other factors. To know about the quality of science learning process, the first step that has been done by the researcher is to survey the science learning outcomes that include science process skills, attitude toward science, and academic achievement of junior secondary school students in coastal area. Because of some limitations, the study took place on the Merbau Island in Kepulauan Meranti district. Thus, this study aims to determine the level of science process skills, attitudes toward science, academic achievement of science from students Merbau Island as one of the coastal areas. 2. Methodology The survey was conducted in Merbau Island, one of the sub-districts in Kepulauan Meranti, Riau Province, Indonesia. A total of 114 8th grade students obtained from 4 lower secondary schools in Merbau Island have participated as respondents in this study. The position of Merbau Island in Meranti Islands is shown in Figure 1. Figure 1 shows that Merbau Island that is flanked by other islands in the Meranti Islands. Therefore, the researchers assumed that the characteristics of the students on Merbau Island tend to be similar to those of the other islands in the district of Kepulauan Meranti. To collect data accordance to the science process skill, a science skills test for lower secondary school students in the form of multiple choice questions was used. This instrument was adapted from Zulirfan (2017) with a reliability index of KR-20 of 0.69. The 30-item of this instrument measured Science process skills and attitudes … 93 the basic science process skills that include: observing, measuring, classifying, referencing, predicting, and communicating, and integrated science process skills that include: formulating problems, preparing hypotheses, defining variables, controlling variables, experimenting, and interpreting the data. 102.1728830 103.2043630 1.424087° 1.424087° N Sumatera 20 km 0.681145° 0.681145° 102.1728830 103.2043630 Figure 1. Map of Merbau area, an island of sub-district of Kepulauan Meranti Meanwhile, a questionnaire of attitudes toward science was developed by referring to the indicators: interesting in science, science learning, the importance of science, and the views of the scientific environment. Instruments have been validated and through reliability testing. The Cronbach-alpha reliability index for 27 valid items of this instrument was 0.87. This value was considered adequate (Chua, 2006, Nunally & Bernstein, 1994). In addition to the two dimensions of science learning outcomes in the previous discussion, researchers also collected secondary data in the form of student achievement academic data on science subjects. These data were obtained from the results of students' formative tests on science subjects. The research data was collected